Practice Management Alert

Question: If two physicians in the same group who are not in separate specialties see the same patient in the office on the same day, can we bill E/M services for both physicians?Missouri SubscriberAnswer: No, you cannot bill two separate codes for the same-patient, same-day services. You would normally combine both E/M services into one code. CPT® considers an E/M service's history and physical global for the day. Therefore, correct billing bundles same-day office visits together.For instance, two internists in the same practice treat an asthma patient twice on the same day. In the morning, physician A prescribes new asthma medication for a patient who's been having occasional attacks and codes the encounter as 99213 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient ...).Later that day, the patient returns wheezing and sees physician B, who performs and documents 99214 with a nebulizer treatment.If you [...]